ART CITIES: Amsterdam-Meta Struycken

In a world where the climate damage caused by Fast Fashion is unprecedented, they represent a plea for attention, sustainability and craftsmanship. Meta Struycken takes us on an urgent search for how we can cherish our clothes – just like in the past – instead of lovingly rejecting them after a few times. “I think traditional domestic crafts can provide lasting beauty to our wardrobes,” says Struycken. From the perspective of the art studio with a focus on texture, form and composition, she gives this centuries-old crafts a fresh, universal and timeless look.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: EENWERK Gallery Archive

With the exhibition “STITCH!” designer Meta Struycken shows the visual power of simple craft techniques used for centuries to restore and reuse clothing. “STITCH!” is an installation of 75 garments in mini size, all of which are processed using traditional craft techniques such as quilting, appliqué, felting, embroidery, embroidery, embroidery and quilting. Meta Struycken was educated at the ArtEZ fashion academy in Arnhem. She had her own fashion label, worked for years as a designer and trend forecaster, and was co-founder and editor-in-chief of the trade magazine newStyle. After a varied career in the fashion world, Struycken wants to break a lance for simple textile techniques that have been used in many households for centuries to restore and reuse clothing. Fashion makes a huge contribution to global water, air and soil pollution and is one of the most CO2-emitting industries. The profession seems to be losing its old luster and is therefore increasingly associated with excessive consumerism and a throwaway culture. New visions are therefore needed in which garments should no longer be seen as fleeting passers-by, but as part of our lives. Simple forms of clothing in mini size serve as a blank canvas. Once edited, these objects exceed the seasons, like a painting, drawing or collage.  With little hints like Repair, Revive and Reuse, Meta reminds us that we need to learn to live with our clothes instead of throwing them away. With these objects in mini format, she invites us to cherish them lovingly, give attention, adjust and entertain. At a time when fashion is primarily a mass product, it is an invitation to personalise them. Finally, STITCH! as an installation is also a clear statement, a pamphlet against the current fashion industry. At this moment in history, we have lost our way when it comes to our relationship with fashion and clothing. On the one hand, we see a speed of trends that can no longer be tracked.  Brands and influencers launch new styles and trends every day, and every hour. Fast Fashion looks nice on the picture, but is often made pitifully poorly; from a bad fabric and with a bad fit.  It has led to a culture in Europe where we only wear clothes 7 to 8 times before we take them off. The fashion industry, as we know by now, is extremely polluting, producing far too much: too far away and under poor working conditions. Fashion is a so-called push market in which brands throw things on the market and make a profit when 30% is sold. 30% will go into the sale. The remaining 1/3 ends up in the trash heap.  It has been calculated that in the meantime there are so many clothes in circulation that we could wear them for several generations. Craftsmanship brings us back to the culture of craftsmanship, as we know it from the 18th and 19th century salons where women kept memorabilia and diaries of dustbins and embroidery. Crafting there was a social, loving and meditative activity. Just as a vegetable garden and cooking with basic ingredients bring us back to nature and the essence and value of our food, so crafts bring us closer to the process of making clothes, the appreciation and knowledge of textiles, yarns, spinning, weaving and even the fibres on the land or the wool on the sheep. In addition, traditional craftsmanship is the perfect way to personalise clothing (still a mass product) and add a personal flavour to it. “Domestic textile crafts techniques have the ability to empower clothes with a unique identity and lasting beauty. “Made at home garments reflect our vision on life and therefore will be loved and looked after: to celebrate nature instead of harming it,” Meta said on Instagram. In order to ensure that the clothes have this timeless, and not as in fashion a seasonal look, “STITCH!” takes the universal visual elements of the art studio as its starting point. With modernist abstract principles – such as form, texture, composition and surface distribution, a play of fine lines or expressive strokes of paint – the aesthetics of traditional craftsmanship are renewed.

Photo: Meta Struycken, STITCH!, Installation view, EENWERK Gallery-Amsterdam, 2024, © Meta Struycken, Courtesy the artist and EENWERK Gallery

Info: EENWERK Gallery, Koninginneweg 176, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Duration: 15/6-31/8/2024, Days & Hours: Thu-Sat 13:00-18:00, www.eenwerk.nl/